A Klutz and a Criminal
by Villains' Bad Girl
Summary: No one will see me as anything but a klutz...not even John Bender. Can I get him to know the real me and love me the way I love him? Claire/Bender/OC
1. Saturday Detention

_I've been watching the Breakfast Club for about 3 days in a row now. I own nothing except Becky Harris. Read and enjoy! Please leave a review!_

* * *

A klutz…that's what the school had labeled me as. Becky Harris, the walking disaster. Maybe they are right. If I weren't a klutz, I wouldn't be here at school serving detention. I looked across the seat at my mom who was looking none too pleased about driving me here at 7 in the morning on a Saturday.

"Thank you", I mumbled, keeping my head down and my voice low.

"Get your ass in there", Mom said. "You'd better come straight home after this. I have to be at work by 4."

"I will", I nodded.

I opened the door, gasping when I heard it hit something.

"Damn it, Becky! Look before you open!"

I quickly looked on the other side of the door to see what I hit, hoping there wasn't a dent or paint scratched off. I looked down on the ground and quickly started blushing. I had just hit John Bender, the cutest rebel in school… and my secret crush.

"Oh my god!" I trembled. "I'm so sorry!"

"Watch it!" Bender yelled as he got up.

The tires screeched loudly as I turned around to see Mom driving out of the parking lot, leaving me to the wrath of the one boy I wanted in the whole school. I turned back only to see Bender walk inside the school, heading toward the library. I kept my head down as I followed him into the library. I was greeted by the sight of more people than just me and him.

In the front table sat a rather beautiful girl with short red hair, wearing a pink shirt, a long brown skirt, and pretty nice boots. As I looked at her, I started to feel almost self-conscious. Everyone was staring at how beautiful she looked, and there I was feeling so square with my white sweater and my black jumper with my thick bushy blonde hair looking just as bad as the girl that just walked in.

Next to her was obviously a jock from one of the many sports team, I didn't know. I didn't care for sports.

Across from them sat one of the nerds I recognized from shop class, Brian Johnson. It really surprised me to see him here, being that he was the perfect student in every way.

In the back sat a girl dressed all in black that I never recognized. Something about her seemed off. Her short brown hair hung in her face and she sat facing away from everyone else.

There in the middle sat Bender. I kept my head low and walked to him, carrying my bag close to my body, almost like a shield. He kept his head down until he noticed me standing beside him and staring at him. He looked at me before looking away awkwardly and shrugged.

"Was there something you wanted?" he asked.

"Uh…" I stammered as I trembled. "I'm… s-sorry again… f-for what happened… with the car."

Bender looked at me for a moment, almost as if he didn't know what to think. I held my bag up as I started to blush. Carrying my stuff, I walked to the back table behind him, and just in time too. Here came the vice-principal I wasn't afraid to describe as an asshole, Richard Vernon.

"Well, well, here we are", he said with a fake smile as he looked at us. "I want to congratulate you for being on time."

Everyone watched as the ginger girl raised her hand, speaking in a polite, but snobbish way.

"Excuse me, sir. I think there's been a mistake. I know we're in detention, but I don't think I belong here."

"It is now 7:06", Vernon continued as he ignored her and passed out paper and pencils. "You have exactly 8 hours and 54 minutes to think about why you are here, to ponder the error of your ways. You will not talk...you will not move...from these seats. And you will not sleep. All right people, we're going to try something a little different today. We are going to write an essay of no less than a thousand words... describing to me who you think you are. And when I say essay, I mean essay! Not one word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Mr. Bender?"

"Crystal", Bender said.

I kept my head down in shame. This was the first time I had gotten myself in detention and I had to write an essay? Sure, I loved to write, but when it came to a topic I had no interest in, writing was impossible!

"My office is right across that hall", Vernon finished. "Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have a question", Bender said raising his hand. "Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?"

"Ooh…" I giggled quietly to myself.

Hey, I couldn't help it. That was funny. Vernon found no humor in it as he looked at Bender and me.

"You and Miss Harris will get the answer to that question, Mr. Bender, next Saturday."


	2. Bender

I gasped softly and looked at Vernon. Me… in detention next week? Just for laughing at a joke? Who did this man think he was? I looked at Bender who didn't look the least bit surprised. Vernon turned to leave us alone, leaving the door open. We sat there in silence as we stared at the paper none of us wanted to write.

"That man is a brownie hound…" Bender mumbled.

I didn't know whether to laugh again or be mad at him. It was his joke that made me laugh in the first place. A loud clicking noise brought us all out of our thoughts as we turned around, seeing that quiet girl in the back, biting her fingernails. She continued biting without a care in the world before she noticed we were all staring.

"You keep eating your hand and you're not going be hungry for lunch", Bender said.

The girl spat the nail she had in her mouth at him, making all of us turn away. I picked up my pencil and looked at my paper. I didn't want to write this paper, so what could I do? The sound of paper crumpling got my attention as I watched Bender take his ball of paper and threw it at the girl at the front, missing completely. I couldn't help but giggle, making him turn around.

"What?" he asked not so amused.

"Nothing", I said looking down, trying to hide the blush on my face.

Bender had no idea how much of a crush I had on him, and I wasn't about to make a fool out of myself and tell him in the middle of detention. All was once again quiet again until Bender started singing to himself, most likely to annoy us all. I could tell it was working with the two up front.

"Oh, shit!" Bender said sitting up. "What are we supposed to do if we have to take piss? If you got to go, you got to go…"

I heard what sounded like his pants unzipping.

"Oh my god!" I gasped and covered my face.

I was so shy and innocent, I had never imagined what a man's body looked like. Everyone on the other hand began to stare at him as he looked like he was ready to pee at any moment.

"Hey, you're not urinating in here, man", the jock said.

"Don't talk, don't talk!" Bender said. "It makes it crawl back up!"

"You whip it out and you're dead before the first drop hits the floor!"

The jock stood up showing he was not joking around. I uncovered my face and looked at Bender as he smirked at him.

"You're pretty sexy when you get angry...grrr!"

I couldn't help but blush. I never thought I would hear something like that from Bender. I had to admit it sounded pretty sexy coming from him. Bender looked at the door before turning to Brian.

"Hey, homeboy", he said. "Why don't you go shut that door and we'll get the prom queen impregnated."

"What?" I gasped rather loudly.

Everyone turned around to look at me. I slid down in my chair, almost trying to hide as I blushed. I looked at Bender, knowing he probably saw me as some weirdo or something

"Look", the jock said. "Just because you live in here doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass. So knock it off!"

"To be honest", I said. "You're being more of a pain in the ass. Just ignore him and shut up."

"Sweets, no one could ignore me if they tried", Bender said.

I managed to crack a smile. John Bender actually talked to me, calling me sweets. Oh my god!

"So..." he said trying to draw attention to himself and looked at the two at the front. "So…! Are you guys like boyfriend/girlfriend? Steady dates? Lovers…? Come on Sporto, level with me. Do you slip her the hot...beef...injection?"

"Go to hell!" the princess yelled.

"Enough!" the jock yelled at the same time.

"Hey!" we heard Vernon yell from his office. "What's going on in there?"

No one noticed, but I was curled up in my chair with my arms covering my ears, as I hyperventilated softly. I hated hearing people yelling like this.


	3. Defending Bender

I opened my eyes to see everyone looking at me. I knew they all probably thought I was weird as I brought my feet back to the floor and took my hands away from me ears. Even that quiet girl in the back was looking at me kind of funny. It wasn't my fault that yelling scares me to a point where I try to hide from the source. I looked up as Bender got up, looking back at the door.

"What do you say we close that door?" he suggested again. "We can't have any kind of party with Vernon checking us out every few seconds."

"Well, you know the door's supposed to stay open", Brian softly said.

"So what?" Bender asked.

"So why don't you just shut up?" the jock asked.

"So why don't you shut up?" I ask. "It's his idea, let him take the blame. What do you care?"

"There's four other people in here, you know?" he shot back at me.

"God, you can count", Bender teased, pretending to be amazed. "See, I knew you had to be smart to be a... a wrestler."

"Who are you to judge anybody?" the jock asked. "You know, Bender...you don't even count. I mean if you disappeared forever it wouldn't make any difference. You may as well not even exist at this school."

"Don't you ever say that again" I said getting up from my seat.

Everyone turned and looked at me, even Bender. I didn't care at this moment. I was so pissed off at what that asshole said about him. I would care if Bender disappeared. Just because he was a trouble-maker, that didn't mean he was the scum of the earth that deserved to be hated to that extent.

"You shut the hell up and don't ever say that again", I repeated.

I picked up Bender's pencil and threw it at the jock. Sure, it may have been an overreaction, but that's what happens if someone pissed me off to that extent.

"Crazy, bitch…" I heard him mumble.

I stuck my tongue out at him and picked up my pen, looking down at my paper. Everyone started rambling on about what clubs they belonged in and what the clubs included and who belonged. Those two who thought they were so popular were really starting to piss me off, telling Bender he didn't belong in any clubs, telling him no one would allow him in, calling him stupid.

"Shut up!" I yelled at them.

Everyone stopped talking when we heard Vernon's footsteps across the hall. Bender quickly took a seat between the two preps, acting like he was behaving himself. Vernon, instead stayed in his office instead of coming back in here, making Bender laughed as he got up.

"Why are you being so defensive?" the girl asked turning to look at me. "It's not like he's your boyfriend."

I looked away blushing, hoping Bender wouldn't see. Luckily, he was walking toward the door, not even looking at me.

"You know there's not supposed to be any monkey business", Brian said as we watched him.

"Young man, have you finished your paper?" Bender asked pretending to be the boss.

That brought my smile back as he started messing around with the door.

"What are you going to do?" the girl asked.

"Drop dead, I hope", the jock chuckled.

I pulled my beanie out from my jacket pocket and threw it at him. Just who did this asshole think he was, passing judgement on other people he didn't even know?

"Bender, that's…that's school property there", Brian said. "You know, it doesn't belong to us. It's something not to be toyed with."

The door slammed shut as Bender came running back to his seat.


	4. More Detentions

"That's very funny", the jock said looking at the closed door and turned back to Bender. "Fix it."

"Am I a genius?" Bender asked with a smile.

"No, you're an asshole!"

"What a funny guy!" he continued.

"Fix the door, Bender!" the jock yelled.

"Everyone just shh!" Bender said before. "I've been here before. I know what I'm doing."

"Exactly how many times have you been in here?" I asked.

"About twice a month this year."

"Goddamn it!"

Everyone went quiet when we heard the yelling come from the other side of the door. We sat in our seats as Vernon opened the door and looked at us with suspicion.

"Why is that door closed?" he asked.

"How are we supposed to know?" Bender asked. "We're not supposed to move, right?"

Vernon glared at him before turning to the popular girl. She looked straight ahead, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Why?" he asked her.

"We were just sitting here…like we're supposed to…" she nervously said, almost hesitant.

Vernon looked at us, not believing a single word any of us was telling him. He looked at Bender, walking toward him.

"Who closed that door?" he asked.

"I think a screw fell out of it", Bender lied to his face.

I looked at him, worried that he was going to get into more trouble. Bender had the screw in his pocket, how much trouble would he get if he was searched? I turned to Vernon and raised my hand slowly.

"Sir…it's my fault the door's closed", I lied. "I needed to use the restroom… and I tripped and knocked the door closed."

Bender looked at me in disbelief. It was almost as if this was the first time anyone had ever lied to this extent for him before. I looked up at Vernon who looked at Bender before looking at me, almost trying to figure out if he put me up to lying. I looked Vernon in the eye, trying to be serious about it.

"That is another detention, Miss Harris", he said.

I sit back in my chair, sighing as I covered my face with my hands. Three detentions in a row. My mom was going to kill me. Everyone watched as Vernon walked to the door, trying to figure out a way to prop open the door. He put a metal folding chair in the door, seeing if it would work.

"The door's way too heavy, sir", Bender said as we watched.

The door slammed shut, making Vernon yell in anger and making us laugh. He opened the door and came back in, pointing to the jock.

"Andrew Clark...get up here. Come on, front and center, let's go."

Well, now we knew what his name was. Andrew got up and walked toward Vernon who was dragging the magazine shelf toward the door.

"That's very clever sir, but what if there's a fire?" Bender asked. "I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of children would be unwise at this juncture in your career, sir."

For a delinquent, Bender sure was smart about this stuff. I don't think even Brian would've come up with those kind of regulations and information.

"Alright, what are you doing with this?" Vernon said blaming it on Andrew now. "Get this out of here for God's sake! What's the matter with you? Come on! I expected a little more from a varsity letterman."

"Dick…" I mumbled underneath my breath.

Bender gave a slight nod as we watched Vernon escort Andrew back to his seat before turning to the rest of us."

"You're not fooling anybody, Bender!" he said. "The next screw that falls out is going to be you!"

"Eat my shorts…" Bender softly said, loud enough for us to hear.

I gasped and watched as Vernon walked toward him.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Eat…my…shorts", Bender repeated with no hesitation, looking him directly in the eye.

"You just bought yourself another Saturday, mister!"

"Oh, Christ..." he mumbled.

"You just bought one more right there!" Vernon added.

"He didn't do anything!" I said defending Bender against this asshole of a principal.

"You want to join him?" Vernon asked me. "Another detention, missy!"

"Well, I'm free the Saturday after that", Bender said not seeming to care about why this was happening. "Beyond that, I'm going to have to check my calendar!"

"Good!" he yelled. "Cause it's going to be filled, we'll keep going! You want another one? Say the word, just say the word! Instead of going to prison, you'll come here! Are you through?"

"No!"

"I'm doing society a favor!" Vernon continued.

"So?" Bender asked.

"That's another one, right now! I've got you for the rest of your natural born life if you don't watch your step! You want another one?"

"Yes!" Bender yelled.

"You got it!" Vernon said. "You got another one, right there! That's another one pal!"

"Stop it!" I yelled.

Everyone looked at me as I covered my ears with my arms, curling up in my chair again. I rocked back and forth in my seat as I hyperventilated. They all looked at me worried before returning to their thoughts.

"You through?" Vernon asked looking at Bender.

"Not even close, bud!" he answered.

"Good! You got one more, right there!"

At this point, I couldn't hear anymore. I slid out of my chair and hid underneath the desk, keeping my arms over my ears as my hyperventilating got faster.

"No more… no more…"

Everyone really started to get worried. Vernon looked at me underneath the table, about ready to yell at me to get out. I guess my behavior scared him because he said nothing. I couldn't focus on anything. All of this yelling was giving me flashbacks of my home life.

"How many is that?" Bender asked about his list of detentions.

"That's seven including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr. Vernon here whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet", Brian answered.

"Now it's eight", Vernon said before turning back to Brian. "You stay out of it!"

"Excuse me, sir, it's seven", Brian said not understanding the big deal.

"Shut up, Peewee! You're mine Bender...for two months I gotcha! I gotcha!"

"What can I say?" Bender said. "I'm thrilled!"

"Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe", Vernon said. "You know something, Bender? You ought to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people. You might be better off."

Vernon looked at the rest of us, finished dealing with me and Bender.

"Alright, that's it! I'm going to be right outside those doors. The next time I hafta come in here...I'm cracking skulls!"

He turned around and walked out the door. As soon as the door slammed, Bender startled us all, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"FUCK YOU!"


	5. Killing Time

I caught my breath as I open my eyes. I look around to see almost everyone standing around me, looking a bit worried.

"Are you okay?" the popular girl asked.

I slowly brought my hands down, panting softly. My body was still shaking.

"I'm sorry", I shakingly said. "I just can't handle arguments or people yelling like that. It scares me…"

"How can arguments scare you?" Bender asked as he took out a cigarette.

"My parents…" I shuddered. "The worst arguments I heard were from them…"

"What do you mean worst?" Andrew asked almost not believing me.

I sighed and put my hand on the sleeve of my shirt, pulling it down my wrist, hiding the marks. I shook my head not wanting to talk about it. I could feel Bender's eyes on me as he continued watching. Everyone turned around and started doing their own thing, trying to keep themselves from being bored.

The popular girl sat at her chair just staring into open space. She looked pretty out of it, fading from smiles to frowns.

Brian sat in his seat, fidgeting as he seemed to be touching himself. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Boys…

Andrew played with the strings on his hoodie, trying to even them out.

The girl in the back started doodling on her paper, giving me an idea. None of us were writing the papers Vernon wanted, so what the hell? I picked up my pencil and doodled to my heart's content. I looked up ahead at Bender who struck a match and lit the tip of his shoe on fire. He used his show to light his cigarette before putting out the flame. I smiled and looked down at what I was doing. There were little hearts in the corner of the paper that had our initials.

 _ **RH + JB**_

 _ **Becky and John**_

I drew a larger heart in the middle of the paper with an arrow going through it. Using cursive I wrote out want I wanted with a smile on my face.

 _ **Rebecca Harris and John Bender**_

I don't know how much time had passed but eventually, every single one of us passed out in our seats. I fell asleep with my head on the paper, hiding it from everyone. Who knew how long we slept, because the next thing I remembered was Vernon yelling at us to wake up.

"Who has to go to the lavatory?" he asked.

All of us raised our hands at the same time. Hey, we've been in here since 7, of course we would all have to go at some point. The boys got up first as I raised my head. I looked down to see the paper sticking to my face before falling off. The girl who was sitting in the back saw and quickly picked it up.

"Give it back", I nervously said.

"Rebecca and John?" she read with a smile.

"Give it back, please."

I was scared she was going to show it to everyone else. Once they saw it, it was only a matter of time before everyone started laughing at me. I couldn't handle that. I couldn't handle Bender reading the paper and outright reject me and ridicule me. The girl saw the look in my eyes and quickly, her smile went away. She folded the paper and handed it back to me before walking out of the library to the restroom.

"What's this?" Vernon asked pulling the paper from my hand.

"Sir, please!" I gasped as he read it.

"You and Bender?" he laughed. "That's a laughing matter. I can't believe anyone could fall for a guy like that."

I look down, trying to hide my blushing face. He took the paper and stuffed it in his jacket pocket before leaving to escort us all to the restroom.


	6. Getting to Know Us

Everyone watched as Bender sat on the librarian's desk as he held a book and tore the pages out without a care in the world. I sat and watched him somewhat relieved. Thank god that girl nor Vernon spilled the beans about my crush.

"That's real intelligent", Andy said as Bender threw the pages he tore out.

"You're right", he said continuing to do so. "It's wrong to destroy literature... it's such fun to read."

He turned the book over to see what he was tearing out.

"And Molay really pumps my nads."

"Moliere", the popular girl corrected him.

"I love his work", Brian mumbled.

Bender obviously didn't care as he grabbed a handful of pages and threw them at him. I got up, stretching my legs as Bender put the book down and picked up the catalog cards, rearranging them.

"Why are you doing that?" I finally asked curiously.

"Nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy", he answered.

I crossed my arms behind my head watching as Andy tried to ask the popular girl out. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Typical jock…

"Hey, you grounded tonight?" he asked.

"I don't know", the girl shrugged. "My mom said I was but my dad told me to just blow her off."

"Big party at Stubbies", Andy said trying to convince her. "Parents are in Europe. Should be pretty wild..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, can you go?"

"I doubt it..." she finally answered. "Cause if I do what my mother tells me not to do, it's because my father says it's okay. There's like this whole big monster deal, it's endless and it's a total drag. It's like any minute... divorce..."

"At least your parents don't get violent", I sigh knowing the problem.

"Violent?" she asked.

"Yeah… at lease your parents don't hit each other or pull knives or guns on each other with one of their kids watching…"

Everyone got quiet as they stared at me. I guess no one else had parents like mine or their parents were normal for the most part. I press my back against one of the columns knowing none of them understood what kind of household I lived in for most of my life.

"You're making that up", Andy finally said.

"Why would I make that up?" I asked.

"No one in their right mind could ever do that to someone they loved. Much less with kids in the house."

"Sporto", Bender said jumping off the railing, walking in front of him. "You get along with your parents?"

"Well if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?" Andy said.

"You're an idiot anyway. But if you say you get along with your parents well you're a liar too!"

Bender turned to walk away from him. Just as he got to the middle of the tables, Andy walked up to Bender and pushed him.

"Hey!" I said. "That was uncalled for!"

I walked up to Andrew and pushed him back. Bender put his hand on my shoulder and gently pulled me away, leaving the two of them to deal with their fight.

"You know something, man", Andy said. "If we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you!"

We all watched as Bender pointed his middle finger at the floor, looking Andy in the eye as he spoke.

"Can you hear this?" he asked. "Want me to turn it up?"

Bender flipped his hand over, giving Andy the bird. I smirked and nodded my head knowing he deserved it with the attitude he had. The moment was interrupted when Brian came between them, trying to break it up.

"Hey fellas", he mumbled as Andy pushed him away. "I mean... I don't like my parents either, I don't. I don't get along with them. Their idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko!"

Bender rolled his eyes as he turned to look at Brian.

"Dork, you are a parent's wet dream, okay?"

I couldn't help but shrug and agree. As much as a good student I was, I wasn't aiming for straight A's or anything as good as he did.

"Well that's a problem!" Brian said trying to convince everyone he wasn't as good as everyone thought.

"Look, I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kind of clothes. But face it, you're a neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie! What would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?"

I was actually impressed with Bender's use of words. No one else seemed as impressed as I was. Andy looked at him again, ready to start another fight.

"Why do you have to insult everybody?" he asked.

"I'm being honest, asshole!" Bender said. "I would expect you to know the difference."

"Yeah well, he's got a name."

"Yeah?" he asked looking at Brian. "What's your name?"

"Brian."

"My condolences."

He walked away, looking at the popular girl in the front. She frowned looking at him getting sick of his attitude, hoping to stick it to him the way he was sticking it to everyone else.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"What's yours?" Bender asked.

"Claire."

"Claire?" he asked saying it slowly.

"Claire", she repeated. "It's a family name!"

"It's a fat girl's name!"

"It's not that bad", I said. "It's a very nice name."

I couldn't help but back into the column as I watched Bender walk toward me. A warm blush crept upon my cheeks as he leaned in close to me.

"And what's your name?" he asked.

"Rebecca", I say softly. "But, I prefer just Becky."

"Becky…" Bender said slowly making me blush. "An old lady's name."

"Well, it's my grandmother's name…"


	7. Bad Memories

Bender looked at me and Claire. He saw me blush as he said my name and noticed my homey look, compared to Claire who looked at him annoyed and her more stylish outfit.

"Are you a virgin?" Bender asked her.

Claire and I looked at him, startled by the sudden question. I tried to hide my blushing face knowing all too well that I was one.

"I'll bet you a million dollars that you are", Bender continued looking at her. "Let's end the suspense. Is it going to be... a white wedding?"

"Why don't you just shut up?" Claire said trying to avoid answering.

"Have you ever kissed a boy on the mouth?" he asked.

I couldn't help but look away. Everything Bender was saying was something almost every girl in this school has done. All except me. Everyone could tell just by the way I dressed that I was 100% a virgin. Hell, I never even dated anyone before.

"Have you ever been felt up?" Bender continued, making me feel embarrassed. "Over the bra, under the blouse, shoes off...hoping to god your parents don't walk in?"

I blushed and tried to cover my face in my arms. I never thought about a boy like that. Just shows how inexperienced I am at relationships or anything close to that. I looked at Claire, noticing she was trying to ignore his words, but could see that Bender was starting to bother her.

"Do you want me to puke?" she asked.

"Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, Calvin's in a ball on the front seat past eleven on a school night?" he continued.

"Leave her alone", Andy said.

All of us backed away, sensing a fight was beginning to brew between them. This time, Brian knew to stay out of it, knowing both boys would've been able to take him down easily. Bender turned away from Claire and looked at Andy.

"I said leave her alone", he repeated.

"You going to make me?" Bender asked.

"Yeah..."

"Guys, please don't…" I said getting nervous about the fighting.

I backed away scared, being brought back to the one of the worst fights I experienced between my parents. It started as a normal argument, like always, but soon escalated out of control.

"You and how many of your friends?" Bender asked Andy, thinking he didn't have the fight in him.

"Just me, just you and me", he answered. "Two hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the floor! Anytime you're ready, pal!"

Bender swung his fist at Andy who quickly dodged it. Andy grabbed him and pinned him to the floor. I just couldn't take it anymore.

"Get off him!" I yelled as I grabbed onto the back of Andy's hoodie. "Daddy, please stop!"

Everyone stopped as they looked at me. I really did just call Andy "daddy". I backed away crying as the memory came back in full swing.

* * *

 _I laid in bed shaking as I heard Mom and Daddy fighting in the hallway. My brothers and sister were all still asleep by some miracle. I couldn't block out the sounds of yelling and pounding against the walls. It was all too scary for a child to witness. The sound of breaking glass brought me out of bed. Opening the door, I saw a broken picture frame on the floor and heard yelling from the kitchen._

" _You want to kill me? Go ahead, kill me!"_

 _The scene I saw was a true horror. Daddy stood above mom with a kitchen knife in his hand. I cried hard and ran out of the door to the neighbors' house._

* * *

I sobbed as Andy released Bender. Seeing this was scaring me so much. Was I bound to see nothing but those memories repeated this whole day?

"I don't want to get into to this with you man", Bender said.

"Why not?" Andy asked.

"Cause I'd kill you", he answered. "It's real simple. I'd kill you and your fucking parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother."

"Chicken shit..."

As Andy turned away, Bender pulled a switchblade knife out of his pocket. I gasped and backed away from him. He really wasn't kidding. I watched as he stuck the knife into the chair.

"Daddy…" I mumbled looking at the knife.


	8. Carl

All of us went back to sitting at the tables, saying nothing to eat other. I was intimidated by Bender after seeing the pocketknife. Everyone looked at me as some sort of freak after my breakdown. I didn't blame them for doing so. We looked up as the library door opened and the janitor walked in.

"Hi, Carl…" I mumbled with a smile.

"Becky!" he waved. "How's it going?"

I shrugged as he turned and smiled.

"Brian, how you doing?"

"Your dad works here?" Bender asked as he turned to Brian.

In his embarrassment, he looked away, not even bothering to answer Carl. He looked away, almost disappointed as he turned away. I sighed and looked down as he proceeded to empty the trashcans in the library.

"Uh, Carl? Bender spoke up.

"What?" he asked.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure..."

"How does one become a janitor?"

We all watched as Carl's attitude suddenly changed. He looked at Bender, raising his eyebrow in disbelief.

"You want to be a janitor?" he asked.

"No I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor", Benders said pointing to Andy. "Because Andrew here, is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts..."

"Oh, really?" Carl asked angrily. "You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Peon? Huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shitheads like you for the past eight years I've learned a couple of things...I look through your letters…"

I looked at him nervously as I blushed. I didn't know the janitors actually read our private things!

"I look through your lockers..." he continued. "I listen to your conversations, you don't know that, but I do...I am the eyes and ears of this institution my friends."

All of us were silenced as he pushed his equipment out of the library. To put more shame on us for being so judgmental, he turned back to us.

"By the way, that clock's 20 minutes fast."

All of us sighed and groaned, not knowing whether or not he was lying about the clock. Either way, we still had a long time until we go out of there. We all sat around trying to keep ourselves from getting bored. Bender started to whistle a marching tune that was actually pretty catchy. Everyone else joined in, except for me. I was not good at whistling at all. Instead I just hummed as we all looked happy. Vernon entered the library, bringing all of us to a stop, except for Bender, whistling an ominous tone.

"Alright girls", he said. "That's 30 minutes for lunch..."

"Here?" Andy asked.

"Here."

"Well I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir", he said desperate to get out of the library.

"Well, I don't care what you think, Andrew!" Vernon said continuing to be an asshole.

"Sir, please", I said. "Don't you think our lunches would ruin the library should we spill anything?"

"You'd better pray to god that doesn't happen", he growled.

"Uh, Dick?" Bender said. "Excuse me, Rich...will milk be made available to us?"

"We're extremely thirsty sir", Andrew added.

"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration", Claire said.

"I develop kidney stones if I'm not properly hydrated", I say being completely honest about that one. "Being our current supervisor, I doubt you can risk sending me to the hospital."

Bender looked at me and smirked as he started to get up.

"Relax, I'll get it!"

"Hey!" Vernon said. "Grab some wood there, bub!"

Bender smirked as he sat back down.

"What do you think, I was born yesterday? You think I'm going to have you roaming these halls? You!"

He pointed at Andy and looked at the rest of us, before pointing to the girl in the back. She didn't seem to be paying attention, because she didn't even respond when Vernon pointed at her.

"And you!" he called. "Hey! What's her name? Wake her! Wake her up! Come on, on your feet, missy! Let's go! This is no rest home! There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let's go!"

The rest of us were left by ourselves as Vernon took the two of them to get drinks for us.


End file.
